The present invention pertains to a sewing or embroidery machine with a microprocessor, which is connected to means for entering commands with a display screen and with at least one memory.
In prior-art sewing or embroidery machines of this type, it is frequently necessary to look up the description of the operator""s manual supplied with the machine for the explanation of certain operating procedures, such as the insertion of the sewing threads, the setting of the thread tension, the configuration of the sewing or embroidery machine, etc. It has also been known that a brief description of the measures necessary for carrying out the operation can be called up on the display screen of the sewing or embroidery machine by actuating the keyboard.
However, it was found that the manual originally supplied with the particular sewing or embroidery machine frequently can no longer be located or is not complete after a certain time The calling up of a corresponding text to be read by the operator on the display screen of the sewing or embroidery machine is also problematic, depending on the prior training of the operator, because the text is frequently not understood by the operator or it is not understood correctly.
The basic object of the present invention is to provide a sewing or embroidery machine of the type mentioned in the introduction which has features with which certain operating procedures of the machine can be explained rapidly and understandably when needed.
According to the invention, a sewing or embroidery machine is provided with a microprocessor, which is connected to said commands entering device, which is connected to a display screen and which is connected to at least one memory. Image data explaining the operation of the sewing or embroidery machine is stored in the memory. The microprocessor upon receiving a corresponding command, reads the image data characteristic for the explanation of the selected operation of the sewing or embroidery machine from the memory and transfers the data to the display screen such that the particular operating procedure is displayed in the form of animated images (a series of images) on the display screen. The transfer may occur after further processing.
The present invention is based essentially on the idea of representing the corresponding operation by a series of images to explain the operating procedures. For example, when the auxiliary function xe2x80x9cInfo: Thread sewing threadxe2x80x9d is activated, a movie (e.g., a display based on picture signalsxe2x80x94video) is shown on the display screen of the sewing or embroidery machine, which shows the insertion of a sewing thread. Image data explaining the operation of the sewing or embroidery machine, which are read from the microcomputer after entering a corresponding command and are optionally transferred onto the display screen, optionally after further processing, are stored for this in the memory of the sewing or embroidery machine.
To make possible the modular design of the sewing or embroidery machine and also to be able to use commercially available microprocessors with a preset processing speed, it has also proved to be advantageous to connect the microprocessor via an application-specific circuit assuming the control of the display screen with an image memory such that the image memory is loaded by the microprocessor with image data via the circuit and that the application-specific circuit will then cyclically read the image data being stored from the image memory to generate the image signals and subjects these correspondingly to further processing.
It has, furthermore, proved to be advantageous to provide additional areas, whose key functions, such as forward and backward as well as start and stop, are associated with the series of images, on the display screen for setting the image sequence of the series of images explaining the operating procedure.
The memory may be a program memory containing the operating software of the sewing or embroidery machine. The memory may also be in the form of a card memory, which is located in a corresponding memory device with a card slot. Such a memory device may be connected to the microprocessor.
The microprocessor may be such that the operating procedure to be explained is displayed in the form of a movie. To set the image sequence of the series of images (the movie) explaining the operating procedure, additional keyboard function areas may be displayed on the display screen (soft keys). The additional keyboard function areas may have key functions assigned to them, such as forward and backward scrolling of the series of images to be displayed or the starting and stopping of the series of images.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.